YOINK!
by GlitteryPedestrian
Summary: Gray and Lucy both have a crush on one another, but they're determined to keep their mouths shut for fear messing with the teams dynamic. On one mission with Team Natsu, Lucy gets wrapped up in an evil scheme which results in Gray having to crash a wedding and steal the bride? Will this mission bring the two closer? Rated T for language, suggestive stuff, and violence probably.
1. 1 Tiny Crush Things

**A/N: First Fairy Tail fic!  
Also I ship like almost everyone, I don't hate on other ships so just throwing that out there.  
Never intentionally hate on a ship.**

* * *

 **IMPORTANT!**

 **-** Gray _thinks like_ this  
 **-** 'Lucy _thinks like this'_

* * *

Gray sat at his usual table in the guild that day, next to Cana, Natsu, and Wendy. Wendy and Natsu were talking over her newest mission she was about to take part in. Wendy would be going on a solo mission for a simple job at a library to accompany an old scholar, she needed Happy's help and Natsu was ensuring his friend would get back A-Ok. Cana on the other hand got so bored of their conversation she started to drink, even though it was only noon. Gray's thoughts strayed as he tuned out his friends around him. Face supported in his fist, his eyes roamed the guild. He saw Juvia peering out from behind a post to look at him, he saw Mirajane at the bar serving lunch with her lovely smile, and Gajeel in the corner talking to Levy… well more like listening to Levy rave about something she'd learned with an amused smirk.

To put it short: It was a normal day. His eyes darted to the door when he heard Levy greet her best friend.

"Hey Lu-Chan!" She said cheerily.  
Grays stomach flinched when he heard her name, but he kept it hidden under his stone cold exterior. Lucy walked in with a smile as usual.  
 _God she's hot…_ He thought.  
 _Not even just hot, she's just…great…All around amazing person; intensely caring, rockin' body, powerful mage, fuckin' genius. She's got it all! Does she even realize that? Sometimes she's kind of insecure about herself when she starts comparing her abilities to others in the guild… But that's dumb, she came here as some crazy nervous fan girl and kicked ass ever since!  
_ Gray muses as he unconsciously watches the blonde make her way through the guild towards her usual spot at the bar. She greeted Levy and a few other friends warmly when she felt Grays gaze. Her eyes darted to him, snapping him out of his daze, she greets him with a warm smile that leaves his chest feeling all fuzzy for some reason. That smile usually manages to crack his tough guy shell just a little, and lets his little smile peak through. Today it succeeded. He figures a smile won't uncover his ruse.

You see, Gray Fullbuster has had a crush on Lucy Heartfilia for quite a bit. Nothing he'd _EVER_ admit to anyone besides himself of course. Not only would he be subject to endless teasing via the entire guild of Fairy Tail, but Juvia, his personal possessive fan girl, would either be thrown back into a storm of depression (Literally), or would ruthlessly attack Lucy in jealousy and or rage. Considering he'd rather keep both of his friends intact and mentally healthy, he holds his tongue. He had to admit it was a little creepy, over time he'd learned things about her one would probably forget. Like how whenever she'd get really into a book she'd hold the pages up to her nose in anticipation. Or how she'd always pick the onion chunks out of everything, it took her over three tries to get her one sided pig tail thing to work just right, she can't resist cherry flavored candy. Little things of that nature have accumulated in Grays mind in a place just for Lucy and the little things that make her, her. Of course it's hard at times when she dresses extra cute some days and he feels the urge to compliment her, but since when the hell does _Gray_ compliment people on their appearance? Those times when Lucy complains about being unable to find a 'perfect man' or how she's single really test his self-control. It's for her sake too! Until something changes, Gray is left to suffer through his crush in isolated silence.

A drunken Cana teasingly slides a drink towards Gray as he stares off to anywhere but Lucy. He sighs and looks at the clock, only 12:15. He looks around real quick and gestures that he'll only have one, he takes a quick swig, passing it back to Cana she giggles a bit and finishes it off.

Lucy sits next to Natsu, across from Gray, at the table after getting her smoothie. "Hey Cana! What's so funny?" She asks the card wielding mage. She giggles some more.  
"Got me a day drinkin' buddy hehe!" She says with lazy smile.  
Lucy gives her a questioning look as she sips her smoothie.  
"Take lots of fish Wendy! Lots!" Natsu says. She nods for what seems like the tenth time in this ongoing conversation.  
"I know, Natsu, I've gone with Happy before." She reminds him while standing up to head out. Natsu being the older brother figure that he is, wanted to be extra super sure that Wendy and everyone she was with were ok. This resulted in him repeating very Natsu-esk advice over and over, much to Wendy's dismay.  
"If a guy looks at you wrong you PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE!" Natsu says with a little demonstration. Wendy chuckles and slowly tries to creep away with Carla dragging her dress hem. "And! And! Never forget to eat real good after a fight!" He continues his voice getting louder as she moves away  
"Don't talk to strangers!" Lucy adds playfully.  
"Look both ways before you cross the street!" Gray adds as well with a small smirk as they all wave her off. Wendy was the whole team's collective little sister, they all care about her, but they know she's a powerful bad ass as well.

Suddenly Erza comes stomping up, angrily muttering something about Wakaba and cake. Pissed, she slams a job sheet down on the table in between Natsu and Lucy. They all jumped at the sudden impact, except for Cana. "We're going to do this one." She states flatly and takes a seat next to Cana crossing her arms. Gray, Natsu, and Lucy all lean in together to read it.

 **GIANT SNAKE!**  
Location: Riba  
Reward: 120,000  
Requester: Mayor Yuu

Recently a massive snake had taken up residence in the forest near our town.  
It eats the surrounding deer and beaver population leaving the townsfolk without much, every so often it attacks the town, especially when shipments come in. Traders are afraid to come here, our lands are being destroyed, the towns people are hungry.  
All we ask is to kill or capture the beast.  
If you chose to capture it, please relocate it away from any populated areas.  
If you chose to kill the beast we shall make a feast of its remains!

Best of luck!  
Mayor Yuu

Lucy shrugged at the reward, they'd get 30,000 each, not enough for her rent this month. Natsu saw the title and read no more, already fired up. Gray simply raised an eyebrow and nodded.

"I don't care what you have to say about it, we're going." Erza snapped still stormy from whatever happened with Wakaba and the cake.  
"Hell yeah! We're gonna roast a giant snake!" Natsu yelled jumping up from his seat, startling Lucy.  
"When do you want to head out, Erza?" Lucy asks the seething knight while poking at the melted remains of her drink.  
"Riba is about a half day away by train, I say ASAP." She says, calmer now. Gray and Lucy release tension they didn't know they had when they see Erza isn't about to murder someone anymore.  
"Alright!" Gray says with a clap. "Headen' out, meet at the station in like an hour and a half?" He suggests. Natsu doesn't even care and bolts off. The girls nod and they all head their respective ways to pack.

An hour and a half later the crew regroups at the station.

Gray was walking, bag packed, on his way to the station. While making his way downtown, walking fast, faces pass, and he's train bound, he sees his key bearing teammate. His stomach flips for a second when he sees her walking down the road, her hips shaking with each step.  
 _Should I follow her? Duh of course I need to go to the station too! Do I catch up with her? Maybe? Would that be obvious? Would she catch on? Fuck that'd be kind of awesome honestly… But it would also suck. I wonder how she'd react to that… would she get all embarrassed and red faced like she does when Cana mentions sex? Or would she be annoyed and reject me? Yeah let's move off that topic… Negative mojo. What if she just wants to be alone? Dumbass it's Lucy she's headed to a mission she's all up for talking. What do I say? Oh I dunno Gray how about a 'hi'? FUCK, JUST GO FOR IT YA PUSSY!_  
Gray argues with himself while following behind the celestial mage. He groans to himself and decides to jog up to match her pace.

"Oi! Lucy!" He calls to her. She turns around mid-step to find the ice mage joining her. She gives him that warm smile like earlier that always pulls out a smile in return.  
"Sorry Gray! My head was up in the clouds, I didn't notice you." She says apologetically. Gray shakes his head.  
"You're fine." _In more ways than one…_ Gray thought. Lucy smiles again.  
 _Damnit you smiling little…Stop being so damn cute.  
_ "What's got your mind busy?" He asks casually as he sticks his hands in his pockets. Lucy looks back to the fluffy clouds lazily rolling across the bright blue sky, her smile fading.

 _'You'_ She thinks. She blushes a bit and shakes her head.

"Just… ideas for my novel." She lies. Gray picks up on the drop in her cheery voice and raises a brow.  
 _'Please Gray don't pry! I wasn't thinking of how I totally want you to show up at my house at midnight and pour out all of your troubles to me… which then leads to a romantic scene I read in one of Levy's romance novels or anything… That'd be crazy! Hahah! Right? Oh boy I'm screwed.'  
_ Lucy thinks nervously as she awaits Gray's response. Gray notices Lucy's fidgets and light blush. What could be so embarrassing that she'd hold it in like that?  
"Luce, you can tell me anything, you know that right?" Gray says looking off towards the road ahead. Lucy blushes more.  
 _'Dear Spirit King, why must Gray do this to poor ole me? He seriously doesn't know what he's doing to me.'  
_ Lucy's heart picks up a few beats. She lets out a small nervous chuckle.  
"How can you tell I'm lying?" She glances up to him.  
"I've known you for quite a while Luce, we're teammates—friends, I gotta know these things." He says patting her head. _  
Oh shit! Was that too much?!_  
Gray thinks with red creeping onto his face. The red creeps into Lucy's cheeks as well while she bites her lip.  
"You don't have to tell me. Just know I'm here if you need me." He breaks the silence.  
"Thanks, Gray." She says, a genuine smile stretching onto her features. Gray smiles back, just a little.  
"Hey, Gray…" Lucy says.  
"Mm?"  
"You lost your shirt…"  
"SHIT!"

The two arrive at the station.

"Hah! Fuckin slow poke ice princess here!" Natsu says as Gray approaches with Lucy.  
"The fuck did you say pyro?" Gray glowered as he came nearer. Gray noticed Lucy sigh, annoyed.  
"You heard me… _pervert._ "  
"You got a death wish flame brain?"  
"The train is about to leave!" Erza snapped as she whacked the two over the heads and marched on the train with Lucy in tow. Everyone ended up literally dragging Natsu onto the train ignoring his every protest, causing quite a scene and nearly getting them kicked off the train. Once Team Natsu was settled and the train was in motion everything calmed down. Natsu sat with his head in Erzas lap in agony, Lucy sat at the window while Gray sat on the aisle next to her.  
"I'm thinking once we get there we get an inn, and in the morning we scout out the area. Me and Natsu will search for the beast while Gray will be the second defense. Lucy," Erza addressed. Lucy perks up. "You guard the town, make sure the people stay out of this." Lucy nods with determination. "We can't let this snake harm any more people." Erza says.  
"Agreed." The other two say. Natsu just grumbles.

About an hour into the ride Erza is lost deep within a book. Lucy is lost in thought while looking at the world zoom by. Gray is lost in thought watching Lucy. What could Lucy be thinking about? Why Gray of course.  
 _'I need to relax, Gray didn't mean anything by it. It's true, we are friends! And friends care about one another, that's it, nothing else. Don't get crazy ideas in your head Lucy, he's not the type to flirt, or crush… Especially not towards me. We're just friends. He probably want's a hotter, more powerful mage for a girlfriend anyways. Someone he can work with, someone on his level. Yeah… that's it. Not me. Don't cause drama within the team Lucy.'  
_ She gains a dejected expression as she watches the country side.

 _I hope she didn't pick up on my fuck up a little bit ago… She's smart, she'd figure it out in no time. She'd be on my ass about it and start treating me weird. I don't think I could handle that. But what is she thinking about? She looks so sad. What could make Lucy sad? Whatever it is I need to get rid of it. She's been weird lately, her smiles aren't as warm as usual, and she's been pretty quiet. Usually on these kinds of rides she'll talk with us until she falls asleep. She's adorable when she sleeps, her cheeks get a little pink and her features soften out, she loses that mildly concerned crease between her brows too._

Lucy feels a stare on her body from her right. She swivels her head around to see Gray turning his head away from her with an unusually blank expression. She turns pink and quickly turns back to the window. Erza smirks from behind her book pages, she saw the whole thing.

 _Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshsitshsitshsitshshshhshshhhh!  
_ Gray internal screams. Yet you'd never know it as his face is perfectly void of any emotion.  
 _'WHAT WAS THAT!?'  
_ Lucy fidgets and blushes as she airs out her emotions like laundry.

 _'Was he looking at me? Do I have something on my face? Maybe he was just looking out the window too and I just happen to be in the way? Yeah that's it! No way that'd happen no way! Although the thought of it_ is _nice… NO! Shut up Luce! You're not allowed to like him! Cut that shit out! Gray and Loke used to pick up chicks like nobody's business when they teamed up before. I'd just be a waste of time for a guy who can get any girl he wants. Lucy! Higher your standards! You don't need either of those womanizer jerks! You're a lot more than just a pretty face.'_

 _Oh boy, did Erza see that? Let's hope to god Erza didn't see that. I've been slipping lately, I'm off my usual game, get your shit together Gray! It's just a girl!... A girl you like…a lot… Who's also super cute. God damn those pigtails are fucking adorable. So glad she settled on a normal hair style finally. She shouldn't worry so much she's gorgeous.  
_ Gray looks up to Erza who has a sneaky smile on her face. He deflates, uncrossing his bare arms (did he ever put a shirt back on?).

 _This is gonna be a loooonnggg ride…_

* * *

 **A/N: So how'd I do? Tell me! Or not, whichever you want man. More chapters to come!**


	2. 2 Dried Drool

**Hey sorry for the wait, inspiration to write just wouldn't come to me. But I did it! This chapter was meant to be longer but I had to cut it short.**

 **Enjoy! (It gets pretty cheesy whoops)**

 _'Lucy thinks like this.'_

 _Gray thinks like this._

* * *

Later, Lucy had fallen asleep and Gray was dozing off, leaving Erza and her finished book . They hit a turn on the tracks, the inertia made the sleeping Lucy slide onto Grays shoulder from her upright position. Gray only opened his eyes in a blurry haze, but soon closed them again and slouched over. Erza smiled at the two. Blissfully dreaming up what could come from this new development she's discovered.

They finally arrived at the Riba station, Erza packs her book up and goes to wake up the team. She dragged Natsu up, one arm over her shoulder, and jostled Gray a little.  
"We're here." She states, hoisting up a few bags. Gray wakes up with a sharp intake of air. In a daze he looks over to the sleeping blonde beside him currently using him as a pillow. It took him a second to understand that this was in fact Lucy, his Lucy, Lucy-Lucy, the Lucy on his team.  
For the first time in a while, Gray openly blushed.  
"Hurry up!" Erza orders harshly as she starts to exit the train with a smirk. Gray stammers and attempts to wake up the celestial mage.  
 _Fuck fuck fuck! Erza knows! There is no way she doesn't know! FUCK! The worst person to know, knows. Damnit all! Alright, alright, fuck, alright. Wake Lucy up. Damnit she's cute, I really don't want to disturb her, but we have a job to do. She'll get plenty of sleep at the inn, it's already sundown.  
_ "Hey… Luce. We're here in Rida. Gotta go kill a giant snake." He gently shakes her with his shoulder.  
"Mnh…Wha?" She grumbles. Grays blush remained as he hears her sleepy moans. Ignoring his thumping pulse, he jostles her a little more. Her eyes flutter open and she takes in a slow breath. "We're here?" She mumbles slowly raising her head from Grays shoulder. He nods, pressing his mouth into a line while trying to keep his cool. Lucy rubs her eyes and glances up to the stiff Gray. Realizing her previous position she breaks out in a mad blush.

Flustered, she jumps back and avoids eye contact as she gathers her things, mind spinning.  
 _'Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! Did I fall asleep on him?! Oh my god! I did! Did everyone see? Did he see my blush? Does he think I'm weird now? Just get your shit and leave—pretend it never happened—don't even act like you know. Play it off and you'll be fine. Maybe they'll think it didn't even effect you, like Gray is just a brother. No biggie. Not at all… Does this mean we've slept together -SHUT UP LUCY!'_  
Lucy's mind reels at what happened. With a light blush she gets up from her and Grays seat, the ice mage following behind with a lowered head. Distracted by 'playing it cool' the spirit mage forgets there is a small set of stairs that lead off the train, her foot goes straight out and falls down, missing the step she comes tumbling down after it. A surprised squeal escapes her mouth as she heads straight for the stone ground. Acting on instinct, Gray grabs a loop on her back pack and holds her steady with one hand. He quickly sets her back on her feet and looks away.  
 _'Just when she needed to play it cool, Lucy Heartfilia-the clumsiest girl in Fiore-goes and trips on some steps… Smooth.'  
_ She mentally scolds herself.  
"Thanks." She says cooly as she too looks away.  
"No problem." Gray responds shortly.  
The two mages exit the car, both determined not to look at the other. Natsu, now conscious and not about to barf anytime soon, quirks an eyebrow at his teammates.  
"The hells got their panties in a bunch?" He asks Erza.  
"Rough trip?" She plays dumb. Natsu wouldn't understand what the two were going through, at least she didn't think he would. Plus the two would undergo ruthless teasing from the loud mouthed dragon slayer. Natsu shrugs and soon forgets about it, too excited to kill a giant snake.  
"Weirdos…Anyway, LETS GO KILL A SNAKE!" He shouts as he takes the lead, unaware of where he was heading to.  
Erza sighs and overtakes him, she knew where the inn was after all. Gray and Lucy keep Natsu in between the two of them to make the walk more bearable.  
As Team Natsu walked through the small town they saw many people trying to make shoddy repairs to their homes and businesses, the children looked sad and forlorn, the people all looked thin and tired.  
"Man, this snake is real problem isn't it?" Gray remarked, completely forgetting the train ride, now focused on the mission.  
"It looks like these damages are recent." Erza adds.  
"These poor people…" Lucy puts her hand to her chest in empathy.  
"Fuckin' asshole snake…" Natsu mutters.  
"Let's get to the inn, we'll find the Mayor in the morning, we don't have much light left." Erza directs. Everyone nods in understanding, suddenly serious about the mission. The team makes their way to the inn to check in for the night.

"I'm sorry ma'am we're currently undergoing repairs, many of our rooms have been destroyed, others are being used to house those whose homes have been demolished. All we have is one room, with two full sized beds. Is that alright?" The clerk explains. Erza nods in understanding at the inns position.  
"It's fine, we'll take it." She says kindly. Natsu and Gray scoff at one another.  
"I ain't sharing a bed with no stripper pervert!"  
"Who the hell would even _want_ to share a bed with a retard like you?"  
"What did you say to me asshole?"  
"You heard me squinty eyes!"  
"You'll pay for that!"  
"Come at me!"  
*WHACK!*  
"Guys! Get along! We have a job to do!" Erza yells. The two rub the knots on their heads and grumble bitterly. The woman at the desk looks on in shock as she hands Lucy the key to their room.  
"So sorry about that." Lucy apologizes on her teammate's behalf. They find their room on the second floor and Lucy unlocks the door. The team heads in to settle down for the night. Natsu flops onto the bed closest to the door while Gray jumps onto the bed by the window. Erza and Lucy look to each other, annoyed, arms crossed, hips popped. Lucy comes up behind Natsu and kicks him onto Grays bed.  
"Stay on your side idiot!" She hollers at him. She sits down with a huff and they all begin to unpack, getting ready for tomorrow.

.o0O .o0O .o0O .o0O

The morning comes, shining light into the small room where the four Fairy Tail mages slept. Natsu lay snoring in the starfish position, one arm over Grays face. While the ice mage lay, one leg dangling off the bed his hands behind his head clad in nothing but his boxers. Erza lie snuggled up to Lucy who seemed to pay it no attention as she lay in the fetal position, both in the center of their mattress. All was peaceful between Team Natsu.

"FAIRY TAIL MAGES!"

A voice bellows as the door slams open. The team all sit up with a start, collectively screaming at the sudden intrusion, brutally torn from their sleep. They see in the doorway a stout old man with a hastily put on suit and untied tie. What little white hair he did have was a frizzy mess, his mustache not yet waxed. Behind him is a very flustered clerk, telling the old man not to disturb the guests.  
"Who are you!?" Screams Natsu from his bed still in a confused daze. Erza blushes and pulls the sheets to cover her nearly bare body, as she only sleeps in her underwear. Gray looks on, mouth hanging open staring at the old man with a bit of dried drool on his face. While Lucy just focuses on trying to see through her blurry eyes.  
"I heard of your arrival and I had to see you immediately!" The old man explains.  
"That doesn't answer my question! Who tha hell are you?!" Natsu asks again as he begins to get out of bed, his fist aflame.  
"O-OH! I'm very sorry! I am the Mayor of Riba, Mayor Yuu. I sent the request to your guild." Mayor Yuu stammers as he puts his hands up in an 'I'm innocent' way.  
"Oh." Natsu says as his flames go up in smoke with a small sizzle. Mayor Yuu relaxes and tries to smooth his frazzled appearance.  
"Yesterday morning the snake attacked again. Things are getting bad, you need to act fast!" He says in distress.  
"Don't worry Mr. Mayor, we were just about to head out and survey the land." Erza says diplomatically despite being half naked.  
"The snake usually dwells in a large cave just downstream of the river. It came by yesterday to devour one of the few shipments we've been able to receive, destroying much of the town in it's rampage. It won't stay there for long; our hunters have reported that it sits to digest for about half a day before leaving to find more. We figured it'd be easier for you to catch it while it's cornered rather than go out searching for it." He says. Erza nods in confirmation.  
"Mayor Yuu, I know this is an urgent matter, but please… give the guests some privacy." Says the clerk.  
"O-Oh! My apologies! Sorry for the interruption, carry on! Good luck!" The Mayor says cheerily as he heads out and waves them goodbye.  
"I'm so sorry." The clerk mouths as she closes the door. When the door clicks shut the team all let out a sigh. Lucy lets out a long yawn as she stretches her arms up in the air above her. Gray can't help but notice the arch of her back and how her thigh sticks out of the sheets. He quickly averts his gaze when Natsu turns around to get his clothes.  
"Alright! Showers! Breakfast! And we're out of here!" Erza commands as she gets up to head to the showers. Natsu never bothers with bathing too often, after all he bathed the day before yesterday, he'll be good for a few more days. Gray and Lucy were both adamant in bathing and planned to follow in Erzas footsteps. Lucy got up from bed and ruffled her silky blonde hair.  
"I call dibs after Erza." She states as she gets her toiletries from her bag. Natsu struggles with his pants as Gray sits there still trying to wake up. Even after the rude awakening, it's still difficult to fully come to.

 _'He's so cute when he's sleepy.'_

Lucy shamelessly mused through a perfect mask of collected calmness.

He rubs his face and combs his hands through his hair, after staring at the floor for a few minutes he looks up to see him and Lucy left alone.  
"…Where's the pink idiot?" He asks after looking around the room.  
"He went to get food… I don't think he realizes this town is starving…" Lucy responds without looking at Gray, she occupies herself with finding the right outfit for snake tracking.  
 _Damnit so she is pissed about the train ride. Maybe she's embarrassed…I mean it's not like_ I _did anything._ She _was laying on_ me _. If the tables were turned she'd have every right to be pissed._

Gray thought as he stared out the window into the gentle morning light. Coffee sounded good right about now. Gray didn't think there were any active coffee shops in this town, famine and all.  
He looked over to the object of his affections to find her holding up a rather small tee shirt and observing it. She caught his gaze for a moment as she looked passed her shirt, he looked away at the wall facing his bed.  
 _Was she looking at my mouth?_

"Gray." She says. He wanted to smile at her saying his name.  
"Mm?" He grunts.  
"You have something on your face."  
Gray jumped, slapping a hand to his face trying to detect a foreign substance.

 _That wasn't what I anticipated…  
_ She chuckled at his reaction.  
"Its on your mouth dummy." She says with a smile in her voice. Gray wipes the sides of his mouth and looks at her for confirmation. She rolls her eyes. "The left side." She gestures to her own mouth.  
"Damnit, is it gone?" He asks frustrated. She sighs and walks over to him.  
 _'Am I really gonna pull one of the oldest tricks in the books?'  
_ Lucy puts one hand on the side of his face and tilts it up towards her, she takes her right hand and rubs off the dried drool on the corner of his mouth with concentration. Gray can't help but stare as she intently stares at his lips.  
 _She's close. Damn Lucy, you know how to pull one over on me huh?_

 _'Am I really this cliché?'  
_ She looks back up to his eyes. He's closer than she anticipated. He met her big brown eyes with his dark blue ones. Even though they both knew what she was doing, they broke into a blush. Gray felt the urge to get closer, but fought it.

 _Maybe she's just being nice… You don't know what her intentions are. Don't assume things and fuck everything up! Lucy's too valuable to just screw around with._

 _'Why do I do this to myself?'  
_ The two mages hear the door creak open and they swivel their heads towards it. From the bathroom door peeked out a certain red headed knight with a wicked look on her face. She had caught a rather interesting scene of her teammates closely looking into one another's eyes with prominent blushes on their faces. The one standing was nestled in between the spread legs of the one sitting. The two deadpanned and shoved away from one another. Lucy 'casually' whistled as she collected her things and pushed passed Erza to shower. Gray decided he didn't need a shower and proceeded to dress to find Natsu, and avoid Erza at all costs.

.o0O .o0O .o0O .o0O

Later the team set out towards the river the Mayor had spoken about. If the snake was habitual it'd be much easier to track. They were traversing through the woods on a long wide path leading towards the river.  
"What do we do if the snake isn't in the cave and we missed it?" Gray asks to no one in particular. Natsu was in front, Erza and Lucy to the sides and Gray in the back. The path was wide enough to where about twelve people could stand shoulder to shoulder.  
"I suppose we'll have to lure it back to it's cave." Erza responds while looking through the brush.  
"How exactly would we do that? The snake wants food and the town doesn't have much." Lucy asks.  
"Maybe the towns people could pitch into a last ditch effort to slay the beast?" Erza suggests.  
"And if that doesn't work, they all starve?" Gray added pessimistically. That earned him an evil look of anger from Erza, how dare he say she was wrong? He shut up after that.  
"Maybe we could catch a bunch of river fish and use them as bait…" Lucy wondered.  
"Does this river even have fish?" Erza thought.

That was when Natsu stopped them all to look at what exactly they were using as a path.  
"Guys… this path wasn't made by people…" He states after a long period of silence on his part. His nose is twitches up and down as he halts his team. After sniffing around for a more defined scent he turns to them with a glint in his eye.  
"This is the snakes tracks." He states.  
 _Come to think of it, this path is rounded off at the edges… and goes on for far too long. Damn this is a pretty big snake._

 _'Holy shit! This is where the snake was?! It just plowed through here! So if roughly twelve people can fit here… and most peoples shoulder width is like… Sixteen to nineteen-ish inches wide… Nineteen times twelve is two hundred and twenty eight inches. That in feet is nineteen, nineteen divided by two is like…No way… This things is…'  
_ "Nine and a half feet in diameter!" Lucy suddenly screams with her hands on her head in shock.  
"…What?" Erza asks truly confused at her teammates reaction.  
"The snake! The snake is like nine and a half feet in diameter! The thing can swallow us no problem!" She exclaims.  
"Well… yeah Luce… The title of the request was literally "Giant Snake!"… What did you expect?" Natsu says oddly matter of fact.  
"I guess it puts things into perspective…" She shrinks, embarrassed at her sudden out burst.  
"We'll be fine Luce, the real issue is finding the damn thing. Now that we've got it's tracks it'll be a sinch." Gray assured her with a confident smirk. She felt a little more at ease. Lucy had never seen a snake that big before, and to be totally honest they scared her a little.  
"Lets follow this trail!" Natsu says as he points forward.  
"This must have been from when the snake retreated back into the woods. It comes from the town" Erza concludes.  
"Or it could lead to where it came _into_ the town?" Gray suggests, earning another death glare.  
"Nah, scents too fresh, it pooped a little ways up." Natsu states as if it were a remark on the weather, while his teammates cringe at the thought.

A few hours later Team Natsu arrived near the river. The rushing sound of water could be heard a good while away. They followed the path to a cave just as Mayor Yuu had said. But, upon closer inspection, the cave was empty and another nineteen foot depression led into the river, disappearing from sight.  
"Damnit! The thing hopped in the river! I can't smell it now…" Natsu lamented.  
"Alright… sooo… fishing anyone?" Gray recommends.

* * *

 **Sorry it ends so abruptly. :/**

 **Anyway, stuff gets more exciting in the coming chapters, these are kinda like preludes.**

 **Thanks for reading~!**


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